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Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Our Dining Room {Tour}

Confession: This post is for me. I mean, I totally want to share it with you too, but mostly it's to have a record of what this room looks like, how my family uses it day to day. It's not fancy, I've done no projects. This is not a "reveal". It's just me showing you around our house, as is.

So, here is our dining room!

It's a nice sized room as far as dining rooms go. It's also a main passage way. The door you see is the main entrance to the house off of the mudroom. That's the kitchen on the right and we're standing in the living room to take this picture.

This is where we eat our three meals a day. You can see a couple of booster chairs--that is our reality!

My favorite part about this room is the double windows. I used sheers to keep it light and breezy in here.

The curtains were too short! I couldn't believe it. I let out the hem on the bottom and sewed on a 5-inch cotton ruffle. Much better!

The two built-in corner hutches are ... interesting. I like the added storage and the glass doors for display, but the triangle shelf makes it hard to store things. I love red, but this red is poorly painted and reminds me of 1999. What color would you paint them?

In our travels for the last year, we've tried to make a memory jar with rocks, sand, shells, pinecones or whatever we find. I have plans of spraypainting all of the lids a fun color--I actually did spray a set of lids last fall, but I chose a cold, rainy day and they never did dry right. I ended up throwing out all of them and have had to gather new jars. See how a couple still are without lids? I also lost my zeal for spraying, and when I don't like the hutch color, I didn't want to pick a fun color for the lids that would compete. So there they sit!

Here's the top, and below is what I keep in the bottom of this hutch--our little school supplies! I have more art supplies and things for the boys, but these are the things I didn't mind them having access to. But it being summer, they really haven't gotten things out much. There's all winter for that!

And now we have hutch number two!

A large drink dispenser, a salad bowl set, and the middle row has two more memory jars and some candle supplies. I put tea lights in the large canister and the other large jars have fillers like marbles, rocks and black beans.

Mr. African Warrior stands guard over the top, while in the bottom are some messy cookbooks and a few things we put on the table most breakfasts. I put them down low so my boys could help set the table.

Since this hutch is right beside the kitchen, let's go next to the other side of the kitchen doorway so we're working around the room clockwise.

There's our kitchen and a glimpse of our chalkboard wall--still love it--and the stairs going up past the gallery wall to the master bedroom and Josiah and Jared's room. I had another shelf here at first, but it found a better home in another corner, so the plant and tiered baskets moved here. I tell you that because I would have hung the art differently had I known something to tall would be there. Oh well!

I framed the ugly light switch and it worked to make it blend in with the other art. The large piece is a dry-erase menu planner. The black square on the floor is the furnace/air conditioner vent. There are huge vents in all of the rooms, some bigger than others, and I can't tell you how many things the boys and I have accidentally dropped (screws, chalk, small toys). Annoying!

Continuing around the room, you'll see the hall with the pretty display that leads to Jonathan's room. The bathroom is also that way. This spot was perfect for hanging our life-sized ruler, and beyond it is the living room (next up to show you!).

I created a sewing nook! I have my grandma's old Elna, and have learned enough that I can add a ruffle to curtains or hem shorts. You can see I have a few more mending projects waiting for me in those baskets!

I use my grandma's Elna machine. I have to read the manual about every time I sew!

I used jars to make sewing notions a little more pleasing to the eye! I thought my boys would want to get into things more, but after the first day or so, they left it alone.

Above the sewing center--oh, I have to move the machine onto the table and plug it in, it of course wouldn't work really well to use it where it is--are two more pieces of art that I created when I first started blogging. One is our family rules sign, an interpretation of the 10 Commandments. I painted the board white, then stuck on stickers. It took forever! I then sprayed the whole thing black and peeled off the stickers. Some didn't stick down well, so there's overspray. That always bugged me, but Gary says he likes it that way. I'll keep him, thanks! And yes, we're stuck in May. I am the worst at updating that dry-erase calendar, even though I stare at it during every meal!

And there we are! I hope you enjoyed this little tour of our dining room!

Inspiration

I love to see changes in ugly things--whether it's new grass after the brown of winter, a free beat-up dresser that becomes a beauty after a few coats of paint, or a life once in shambles that's worth living again. One of my favorite quotes in the Bible is Isaiah 61:3, specifically how God will "give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified." Now that's a life with meaning!